White Knight, Black Swordsman, and Red Reaper
by Jauneforever
Summary: Aki Un has been alone since his freshman year. It's only when he entered the world of SAO in which he found friends. Now his paradise has become a world of nightmares. He swore he would get his friends home, but can a young reaper give him a reason to want to go back to IRL as well.
1. Chapter 1

**So first things first, I have to shout-outs to make. The first is to IF-HBomb for giving me the idea for a worm to allow people to watch SAO from the outside. The other is to Tobias Kitsune for allowing me to use the character dynamics from his story Paper Cuts which I highly recommend, best modern AU of RWBY I've read. I do not own SAO or RWBY. Now as this is fanfiction expect multiple things to be different from the originals.**

 **Chapter 1- First day in a virtual world.**

 **Jaune's POV**

"GET OUT OF MY WAY LOSER" thud. That would be Weiss Schnee shoving me out of her way. My name is Kiiro Aku. I'm 15 and a sophomore.Weiss a girl who goes to my school, Beacon High, and one of my four personal tormenters. Weiss is a transfer student from Germany, I asked her out once and now I'm a perverted loser apparently. Then we have Blake Belladonna she apparently thinks I'm some kind of stalker because I looked at the books she reads to get recommendations. Yang Xiao Long is next, I don't even know what I did to her. And last but not least Pyrrha Nikos, I became her friend years ago when her family moved next door from America. Yet as soon as we reached High school she ditched me and acts like I don't exist unless it's to make fun of me. With those four being the most popular girls here I soon became the outcast of the whole school. As soon as I stand back up an arm is wrapped around my shoulder and I turn to see Yang grinning at me.

"So Aku, I have a paper on the life cycle of a Cherry Blossom tree due on Wednesday and I don't have time to deal with that so you get to do it." This isn't the first time she's had me do her homework and it won't be the last. I simply sigh and nod and Yang 'thanks' me by only knocking my books out of my hands. How I hate this place so much, sadly it's one of the best high schools in Japan. At least the day is over. I then begin my walk home. I hurry home for once because today is the day Sword Art Online launches.

SAO is the most awaited game for VR systems ever. Its graphics, processing, AI, and maps are some of the best ever. I should know I was a Beta, it's how I met my only two friends. Well we don't know each other IRL, in real life, but they are the closest thing to friends I've had in a long time. Sure I was friends with Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie before freshmen year but they started dating at the end of the previous school year and I became a third wheel that was slowly forgotten. Anyway back to my beta buddies, Kirito is a tech genius who had the fastest reaction time in the Beta. The third part of the trio is Ruby, fastest player in the Beta and the only scythe wielder. Me, I went by Jaune Arc. Yeah, not real original but Kirito let it slip his name was his IRL family name and his name put together. I had the best defense and HP recovery time, together the three of us were the only people to beat a last week event.

Kayaba, SAO's creator, felt that as Beta's we should have a chance to transfer some of our skills over to the actual release so he made a dungeon where if you made it to the end you could transfer two stats and two skill levels of your choosing. It was agonizingly hard and near soul crushing but the three of us made it to through the fifty floor dungeon. I went with my defense, strength, battle healing, and shield skills. Ruby went with her speed, strength, scythe, and tracking. And Kirito went with strength, agility, one-handed sword, and hiding. Before the Beta ended we promised we would meet up when the game actually came out. With this in mind I'm practically running home. When I arrive at my house I notice all the lights are out, once inside I find a note. Alright let's find out the excuse to ditch me this time.

I have seven sisters who are a mixture of track, baseball, kendo, and swimming stars who go to a special girl's only school that lets out earlier then my school, it costs so much that I can only go to Beacon due to scholarship which didn't help once Yang found out and made it public. I may be exceedingly bright but compared to the laurels my sisters bring home I can always expect to be eighth place. "Kiiro we all went out for a spa weekend to celebrate Furora **(Flora)** getting offered a place on the Japanese track squad for the next Olympics. Please water the plants and don't stay up to late." I crumple the note and throw it in the trash. Of course a whole weekend away from me, the failure of the Aku family. How grand for them.

Putting my stuff away I head upstairs and set up my Nervegear. In about five minutes SAO launches and I can head back to the only place I feel I can belong. It's agonizing to wait but I put the Nervegear on my head as soon as it's ready and sign in. I black out for a few seconds and when I come too I'm in a field of flowers. In the distance I can see the town of beginnings, I'm torn from the view when someone calls out to me. "Hey Jaune is that you?" turning around I see a tall, blue-eyed, red headed girl **(Kallen from Code Geass)** , a black haired boy that looks like a typical anime hero, and a red headed shady looking Them I'm a brown haired ,red eyed boy, I made sure my avatar looked nothing like me. Respectively their Ruby and Kirito, I don't know the other guy though. "Hey you two. Who's the extra?" Kirito is the one to answer me "His name's Klein, he realized I was a Beta and begged for tips. It would have felt like turning away a lost puppy." I get a good laugh at Klein's reaction and then the three of us proceed to teach Klein the basics while working on regaining the skills and stats we didn't bring over from the beta. Ruby really wasn't happy that items couldn't come over and she had to use a beginner scythe, a gift from Kayaba. He apparently felt it would be a shame to take away the weapon of choice of one of the top three betas and scythes aren't available till the 6th floor.

"Just how are the three of you so good instantly, I understand having knowledge from the beta but your stats?" we share a look before Kirito answers for us. "There was an event that happened at the end of the beta. If you completed it you got to transfer over the levels of two skills and two stats. As you can tell we succeeded." Klein nods his head in understanding before slapping his hands together "Hey you should come meet my buddies I bought the game with." All three of us are uncomfortable with that idea. Just because we hang out together doesn't mean we like hanging around others. I don't know Kirito's reason but Ruby once mentioned an overprotective big sister leading to her having no friends.

Sensing how uncomfortable we are Klein says it's okay if we don't and then mentions logging out to eat but when he pulls up his menu he freaks out. "Where the hell is my log out button?" we check out his screen and see that his log out button is missing. Pulling up our own menus we see ours have disappeared as well. Ruby is the first to freak out. "Oh my god, where's the log out? How do we get?" I get her to calm down while I hear Klein and Kirito discussing this mishap. We then hear a bell chime and we're teleported to the plaza in the Town of Beginnings. Looking around it appears all of the ten thousand players are here. Everyone is chattering and I notice that when some people try to leave a barrier is keeping them in. I'm entirely on edge now. Suddenly a giant robed figure appears in the sky.

"Hello players of SAO, I'm Kayaba Akihiko. This is too announce the new conditions of SAO. I've locked every one of you in here. This a true death game now, the only true rule now is to survive. All deaths are permanent and will occur IRL as well should you fall in game." He pauses to give the crowd time to digest this and I here Klein ask if he could do that. Kirito answers his question without even looking at him. "Locking us in would be child's play for him, as for killing us the battery in the Nervegear could do it." Kayaba then begins to speak again "I have already alerted the authorities and explained that attempts to remove the head gear will end in death. Sadly some people didn't listen and now 218 players are no longer with us." Ruby lets out a gasp and I clench my fists. "Also I have given you all a gift to begin commemorate this event." A mirror then appears in everyone's hand and a flash of light occurs. When it's over I turn to see Ruby is now a short girl with silver eyes and black hair with red tips. Kirito and Klein have also changed into what I can assume is their real appearance. After some momentary confusion Ruby speaks up.

"I understand how he could get out faces due to the Nervegear but our bodies?" the answer hits me soon after "Calibration." They all turn to look at me and I explain "The calibration tests, we had to touch ourselves in order to calibrate the Nervegear." A look of understanding crosses their face and we look to see screens have appeared in the sky showing ambulances carrying off people with Nervegears on their heads. Kayaba begins to speak again. "As you can see I have allowed a brief period in which to transfer people to hospitals, for those whose records indicate they live alone I alerted the authorities to your whereabouts." I begin to curse and they turn to look at me. "My family is gone for the entire weekend and I'm home alone, I'll probably be dead by the time they get back." Ruby begins to tear up and Kirito has a shocked look on his face while Klein begins cursing Kayaba. My eyes are then drawn to a screen and I let out a sigh of relief. "Never mind I don't know how but that's me up there" they turn to see a body being put in an ambulance. I swear I see my four tormenters on the screen, probably heading to Pyrrha's house. I bet they're so thrilled I'm stuck in here. Ruby suddenly tackles me and squeezes the life out of me shouting out how she's glad I won't die.

We're hear Kayaba start up once more. "So the only way to be free is to clear the one hundredth floor. Good luck." The cloaked figures disappears and Kirito grabs Klein and motions for us to follow him. When we arrive to the gate to leave town he stops and turns to us. "Alright things will get hectic soon. I say the four of us head to the next town and begin to get our resources built up before everyone else comes to their senses." Ruby and I agree, we both know resources are limited and some of the best quests are only one time only, but Klein declines. "I've got my buddies in there, I can't just abandon them." This is bad, even with the three of us we can't guarantee the safety of a large group. Klein sees how we're troubled and reassures us he'll be fine. "Don't worry I was a guild master in my last game, I'll teach my friends what you taught me and make sure we're careful." All three of us share a look and agree with him but we put him on our friend lists. Saying our goodbyes the three of us run off and we soon see three wolfs charge at us. We don't even have to look at each other to know the plan. A sword strike, scythe slash, and shield bash respectively kills the wolves and we move on. I may have nothing to actually return to but that isn't true for Ruby and Kirito. Kayaba I swear I'll kill you for this, not only have you placed my only friends at risk but you took this beautiful world and warped it. It's gone from being a place I could escape to and become a gilded cage. So I'll shatter this cage you've built and see to it my friends get home.

 **So where my Dark Knight of Zero story has moments in Remnant this story will have moments IRL.**

 **Pyrrha's POV**

I'm heading back to my house with my friends Blake, Yang, and Weiss. I enjoy hanging out with them but I've begun to regret my choice to stop hanging out with Kiiro. I had a crush on him before and I think I still do, he's always been so kind to me. Yang suddenly smacks herself in realization and turns towards us. "Hey guys we got to stop at Aku's house. I told him the wrong time my paper is due, its due Monday not Wednesday." We agree to stop at his house only to find it locked and for Kiiro not to answer yet we can see lights on in the house. Pulling out a key from under a fake rock that his parents told us I open the door and we go up and find his room. Yang bangs on the door and shouts into it but when that doesn't work she opens the door and we find Kiiro with a Nervegear on his head lying in bed. Weiss immediately begins to insult him. "Of course that dork would be wasting time playing games. Someone just take it off, a few minutes away from his game won't kill him." I move to take it off but Blake stops me.

"I read the Nervegear intercepts signals heading to the brain, we should read the manual and figure out how to safely unplug him or we might cause brain damage." Yang and Weiss surprisingly agree with Blake. Yang says it's simply so he can do her work while Weiss says he's dumb enough already. We find the manual and Blake eventually finds out how to safely disconnect Kiiro, during this time Yang stepped into the hallway to take a phone call from her father. We all here her scream what and assume her sister Rusu **(Ruth)** took her hidden stash of sweets again. Blake move to take off the Nervegear when Yang enters again with tears flowing down her face, upon seeing Blake she tackles her away from Kiiro. Blake is understandably upset.

"What the hell Yang! I thought you wanted to get him out of that thing." Yang then stammers out an explanation but she's too hysterical for us to understand. Our phones then ring to alert us to an emergency broadcast. "This just in Kayaba Akihiko, creator of SAO, has trapped the ten thousand players in the game. All attempts to remove the Nervegear console have resulted in the battery frying the victim's brain. To all people with friends and family playing SAO do not attempt to remove the Nervegear. Please alert the authorities to their location and assure power is not lost to the Nervegear." Blake, Weiss, and I look at each other in shock. A few seconds later and we would have killed Kiiro. Blake the calls the police and they tell us to wait for the ambulance to arrive.

While we wait Blake tries to calm Yang down, apparently Rusu is trapped in SAO as well. I also attempt to call the Akis but not one of them picks up. The paramedics arrive and take Un away commenting on how he's lucky we were around. Yang's uncle Karasu **(Crow)** soon shows up in his car and takes us to the hospital where most of the SAO victims are. On a bed is Rusu lying there with a peaceful look on her face. Yang bursts into tears upon seeing her and we're all tearing up when Un is rolled in and placed on a bed in the room, a black-haired boy soon follows. From what I can tell from his sister, I think, crying out to him his name is Kazuto. I can only pray these three and all the others make it out alive but I know it's naive to think that's possible. I can only hope I don't have to apologize to Kiiro's grave for abandoning him.

 **So what you think. Please review I really do like hearing peoples thoughts and opinions on my work.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I just want to say that I honestly didn't plan on continuing this story but all the reviews made me really consider it. I won't promise this story will gain high priority but I'll try to update it more regularly. I do not own SAO or RWBY. I would love that but it's a pipe dream.**

 **Chapter 2- 1** **st** **boss and Beaters**

 **Jaune's POV**

It's been a whole month since the game turned lethal and around two thousand people have died. Half have been suicide's either from despair or because they didn't believe it was truly lethal. Kayaba is a madman but I doubt he's lying. Things have changed since the beta, hunting spots are barren, fighting styles are different, and quest locations have changed. Kirito, Ruby, and I have stuck together and each of us is at level 18. As far as I know we're the highest leveled players so far.

With no word on the boss morale has been low but a scouting group recently found the entrance and a meeting has been called for to make a plan for the boss. It's being held in an outdoor theater in the town closest to the entrance and a man named Diavel is leading the meeting. "Alright now that everyone's we can begin, I'm Diavel and in this game the Job I rolled is Knight." The three of us all snicker at his joke, there are no Jobs in SAO. Someone else shouts that out and Diavel gets back on track.

"My party discovered the boss room at the top of the tower, if we can beat this boss we can provide a huge boost in morale for those in the Town of Beginnings." He's not wrong, depression has set in big time with no advancement. "As the most capable players here it's our duty to beat this boss and move forward to the 2nd floor. Are you with me?" A chorus of claps and whistles answers him.

"Now we need to form groups of six for this, otherwise we'll be slaughtered." The three of us share a look, the last time we worked with someone the guy tried to monster PK us. Ruby nearly died when she tripped on some roots when ran from the monster horde. I honestly wasn't sorry when that guy bit it. We sat in an isolated spot so no one else is around to team up with until Ruby tugs on my sleeve. I turn to look at her and she points at a cloaked girl, having seven sisters has a few perks.

"Let's go ask that girl to join us, we at least know she has good taste." Oh right, I forgot about the accessory of choice when it comes to Ruby. She had this Red Riding Hood armor piece she picked up. It only gave her an aesthetic effect of leaving rose petals in her wake when she moved beyond a certain speed but she loved the thing. I just know once we hit the twelfth floor we'll have to do that quest again, if it's even in the same spot. Before we can answer Ruby rushes over to the girl. "Hi I'm Ruby. Want to join our group?" The girl acts like she doesn't notice her but she does answer.

"No, you guys seem like you're good with just the three of you." Kirito gains a frown and talks to the girl. "Maybe but going in alone is guaranteed death. Four gives a much better chance at survival, it only has to be for this fight after all." She seems to consider before nodding, Ruby then sends her the invite and her name appears in my HUD. "Welcome to the group Asuna." She seems startled by the fact I knew her name. "How did you know that?" Kirito chuckles a bit before he answers for us.

"Your party's information is in the top left corner." Asuna gains a blush and looks away. We stand up to leave when a voice speaks over the crowd, we turn to see a short, fat, guy with spikey hair trying to gain everyone's attention.

"My name is Kibaou and before we start this we go after the boss I want to say something. We all know about the two thousand people who have died and some of you need to apologize to them right now." He points his finger at the crowd and I grit my teeth. I already know what this moron is going to say.

"Kibaou, you're referring to the former beta-testers, correct?"

"Of course I am! The day this stupid game started they just up and vanished! They ditched all the beginners! They snagged all the easy hunting spots and the easy quests as to, they were the only ones getting stronger in here, ignoring us the whole time like we're nothing." Kibaou then starts shaking his fist out at the crowd.

"Hell I bet there are some of those bastards out here right now! They should get down on their hands and knees and beg for forgiveness! Hell, they should give us all their money and items to pay for the lives lost because of them!" Kirtio begins to stare at the ground trembling while Ruby is close to crying. Tch, like I'll let that slide.

"HEY IDIOT!" Kibaou glares at me and starts shaking his fist at me.

"What did you call me?" I don't even register this guy as a threat, he's just another bully like Yang. However, in this world I have the ability to protect myself and my friends.

"I called you an idiot. Beta-testers are exactly that, they tested an earlier version of the game. Do you think nothing has changed since then? And I'd love to hear how you can pin suicides on the beta-testers." The crowd around us starts muttering, most people think I've made some good points.

"I've got to agree with the kid." I turn my head to a large, black man with a battle ax walking down to the stage. "My name is Agil, now I'm sure you all have picked up a copy of the guidebook the item store has been handing out. All the information in there was provided by ex-beta testers. Now that sounds like equal access to me." Kibaou's face turns red with anger, Xiao-Long should swap stories with this guy.

"Now I'm here because I want to learn from the others deaths and to learn how we can beat the boss, I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone." Everyone claps for Agil and the meeting returns to discussing the boss. Once it's done everyone begins to go their separate ways. Asuna gives us the slip and so the three of us go and stock up on potions while grabbing some food. By the time all our preparations and shopping are done its nighttime. A get-together is going down in the square so we go check it out.

"Hey isn't that Asuna?" I follow Ruby's gaze and see Asuna in the corner trying to chew on a bread roll. The rolls can be pretty tough to eat. Kirito nods and starts walking towards her, Ruby tries to follow but I hold her back.

"She seemed pretty shy earlier, let's let Kirito talk to her for now." It's actually good to see him talking to someone by choice, he's the most antisocial out of the three of us.

"But.."

"I'll buy us some cookies on the way back."

"Let's go, Kirito can meet us at the inn later." Works everytime, Ruby is a cookie addict and I will use that to my advantage, it levels the playing field given she has her puppy dog eyes on top of her natural cuteness. We stop at a small bakery on our way back and I get Ruby her promised goodies. On the way to the inn I notice a ladder and gesture to Ruby to follow me. The two of us climb up the ladder and get on the roof of a building. Once there we lay out and divide the cookies out, 9 go to Ruby and 1 for me.

"Oh, sweet chocolaty goodness. This is an awesome date." I start choking on my cookie and stare wide-eyed at Ruby once I've stopped hacking up my digital lungs.

"Why do you think this is a date?"

"Because my sister said a date is where a boy and a girl go out and have a good time together. Doesn't this count as a date?" I can feel a blush start forming on my cheeks, a cute girl saying we're on a date is something I never expected to happen to me.

"Not exactly Ruby, I mean we're not a couple."

"There's only two of us." I resist the point to facepalm, has she lived under a rock her whole life.

"It… it just isn't a date Ruby, we're two friends hanging out." For a second a frown in on Ruby's face but it disappears just as quickly. I must have been imagining things. Ruby then goes back to devouring her cookies while I admire the view of the town at night. Once Ruby's done with her treat we get back on the ground and reach out inn. We've ended up always getting one room since the three of us are pretty cheap, we all get a bed anyway so it's all good with us. We did offer to get a room for Ruby the first few times but she apparently felt more comfortable with us nearby so Kirito and I let it drop. Ruby hits the hay first and is mumbling in her sleep about someone named Zwei when Kirito walks into our room.

"So how did the date go, score a kiss." I catch the pillow Kirito throws at me and toss it back.

"Tch, you know it wasn't like that. We need to keep an eye on Asuna tomorrow, she's isn't self-destructive but she sounds like she'll accept death as an alternative to being trapped here." I nod at that, it seemed likely. She was acting a lot like some others that we've seen act the same way. "Also, I'm worried about Ruby. I heard a couple of guys talking about her in an unflattering way, they were all talk but what happens when someone decides to act and won't take no for an answer." That thought chills me to the bone. I look over at Ruby's sleeping form and clench my fist.

"The ethic setting can't be relied on, remember how those guys found a way to force a duel on a sleeping?" Kirito sends me a confused look.

"I remember the duel but what's the ethic setting?" I'm actually surprised, Kirito seemed to know everything about this game.

"One of the main concerns in the early stages was the idea that sexual predators or rapists would use SAO to have a new hunting ground. The ethics setting was Kayaba's answer. However, if you can force someone into a duel…" I trail off and Kirito finishes my sentence.

"… you can make someone change their ethic setting." I nod and lay back down on my bed.

"If things had stayed normal Kayaba probably would have changed it to something you set IRL for safety but given how things are… one of us should stay with Ruby at all times. Especially once PKers start coming out, the three of us will be prime targets once people recognize how strong we are." In this game, strong equals good loot. Kirito nods in agreement and the two of us then hit the hay ourselves. Tomorrow is the day we conquer the first boss.

 **Time skip- Morning**

"So, explain why the four of us have to be on minion duty." I sigh and begin trying to explain the whole thing to Ruby but honestly, I find it annoying as well, we could beat anyone here six ways to Saturday in a few seconds.

"There's only four of us so they don't want a party with less than six members. So, I think we should modify our standard strategy for this, I'll go first knock them off balance followed by you and Kirito switching in and going for the kill on the strongest ones. Asuna and I will then switch in for the two of you and eliminate any survivors. Sound good?"

"Uh-huh."

"I guess."

"What's switching?" I stare back at Asuna and realize this must be the first time she's been in a group. Kirito pinches his nose before he starts explaining the concept of a switch to her as we walk down the path. Soon we reach the dungeon's entrance and the dungeon itself is ridiculously easy, nothing more than **Kobold Outcasts** and **Skeletal Kobolds** roamed the halls. Soon we reached the door to the boss's lair. Diavel turns around at the door and addresses everyone.

"Alright I've got just one thing to say, lets win." With that said he opens the door and we march through. Light floods the room once we've stepped into it and from his throne the giant, red rat-creature known as **Illfang the Kobold Lord** jumps in front of the groups. With a roar **Illfang** summons three **Ruin Kobold Sentinels**. The four monsters charge at us and everyone rushes to meet them.

The battle is going well enough, Diavel is an excellent battlefield director. He's made sure that no-one has died yet. Every **Sentinel** that we've faced has died in a near instant from Ruby and Kirito's attacks while my shield skill **Stone Wall** has ensured that no attack has staggered me. Asuna has been no slouch either and has taken down a **Sentinel** herself, I thought she was a beginner? With each health bar that **Illfang** loses three more **Sentinels** spawn and we have our hands full making sure they don't interfere with the other players.

A crash draws my attention and I see that **Illfang** has tossed his ax and shield away. Diavel charges forward shouting that he'll finish the job. That wasn't the plan! Damn it the idiot is going for the last-hit bonus, he must be another beta-tester. **Illfang** draws his next weapon, damn it all to hell! It's a nodachi instead of a talwar, I knew Kayaba would change the bosses but I didn't expect him to change the first one so soon. I can see that Ruby and Kirito realize what this changes as well. I start running towards the moron about to die.

"Wait stop, It's no good." Kirito shouts off a warning as he and Ruby push back some **Sentinels. Illfang** starts bouncing around from pillar to pillar and makes to attack Diavel from above. I reach him right in time and hold my shield up and use the skill **Umbrella Block** , a skill designed to stop attacks from above.

"GAHHH!" Tilting my shield to one side I cause **Illfang** to fall to the ground and slash him across the back. I then shove Diavel back.

"You absolute moron! I just talked about this yesterday, things have changed since the beta. KIRTO, RUBY! Time for a new plan, lets kick this lord off his throne!" Originally, we were just going to hide in plain sight but that plan went out the window the minute I stopped **Illfang's** attack. **Illfang** roars at us but Ruby appears right in front of him and uses **Crescent Cleaver** to rend his right arm from his body. That is what makes a scythe so deadly, while limited in skill numbers most of the skills have a chance of disarming an opponent. Dear Kami I'm sounding like Yang with her stupid puns right now. I am impressed at the fact Ruby cut the limb off a boss though. Kirito follows up with a three-hit sword skill combo of **Slant, Sonic Leap, and Serration Wave.** The final skill is meant to impede movement more than damage.

"Jaune send me up high." Putting my shield above me once more I feel Ruby jump on it and then I shove upwards to send her flying. This will be the final attack.

"Kirito let's use Trinity Finish" Trinity Finish is merely where the three of us use our strongest skills to finish off an enemy. Ruby from above, Kirito in the middle, and I'm from below.

"Let's finish this sucker off!" Kirito runs in and strikes **Illfang** in the stomach with **Vertical** while I strike him in the groin with **Shield Bash**. The cherry on top is Ruby's **Crimson Cleaver** attack decapitating Kobold, something that can only happen when a creature runs out of LP. A message then appears on my hud.

Congratulations

You have received a triple last attack bounus.

Huh, did all three of our attacks hit the boss at the same time.

"OOH! Check it out you guys." I look back and see that ruby has equipped some new boots on. They're all black with crescent moons decorating the outside. "Pretty neat, huh. Boots of the Crescent Moon, plus 10 speed bonus along with increased damage added to charging attacks." That is sweet, a good item for the next few floors.

"I got Coat of Midnight, increased defense and hiding stats!" Ruby snorts and then covers her mouth as she giggles.

"Sounds perfect for you, Mr. Antisocial."

"That's pretty hypocritical coming from you!" I look at my reward and equip it. It's a new shield made of yellow metal about two and a half feet in diameter with a full moon decorating the center.

"Full Moon Shield, twice as tough as my last shield and it's got a unique ability." I'm surprised gear with unique abilities this early? Then again last attack bonuses are usually quite powerful. " **Lunar Reflection,** I'm able to reflect a low to midlevel attack with this skill up to three times per day." So some restrictions but still that is pretty powerful, the stats alone made it a keeper for quite a while but that ability means I'll hold onto it until my other gear can no longer supplement the loss in defense from not changing my shield out will cause.

"Hey what do you bastards think you're celebrating!?" I look back at the crowd who's all staring at Kibaou. "You guys waited until the last second to charge in, you knew about the change in weapons, didn't you?!" I resist to urge to facepalm at that. However, I can see that most of the other players will follow along with Kibaou, perhaps bringing out our new gear wasn't smart. The green-eyed monster is now present. One Kibaou's minions starts talking.

"They knew the boss's attack patterns, they knew what would happen and they kept it from us!" I see Asuna moving over towards us and standing beside us along with the Agil guy. "And I bet he's not the only beta-tester here." Great everyone has started to look at each other in suspicion, the three of us share a look and the plan is set. We can't let moral and momentum be torn down now because of some bigot loudmouth. I notice Diavel moving to speak but gesture for him to stand down. He's a beloved figure that can keep people together, we're going to need that. Kirito goes first in our little play.

"Don't make me laugh. Putting the three of us in the same class as those noobs." Ruby steps up next.

"Most of the betas were simple rookies, noobs might actually be an overstatement." It's now my turn as the three of us march tight through the crowd and to the door leading to the second floor.

"Those idiots could barely level up, you guys are worth more than they are. Not that that's a hard accomplishment." Back to Ruby.

"We went farther up than anyone else. Only the three of us earned the right to carry over stats and skills from the beta." Kirito takes the lead once more.

"We fought monsters with way more sword skills then that puny rat, hell if we felt like it we could have beaten it by ourselves." That probably isn't an exaggeration, we simply wanted to avoid the attention and it would be known if only the three of us took down the boss. Well that and we had no luck finding the boss's lair. I take up the speech again, it's amazing that the three of us are coming up with this on the spot.

"We knew about this and so much more, way more than any info-broker could ever hope to know." Argo is going to kill me if she ever finds out I said that.

"If that's the case you're worse than a beta, you're a damn cheater." The three of us keep walking on ignoreing them until someone cries out somewhat louder than the rest.

"They're all Beaters!" We stop and look at each other. I've got to say it's kind of catchy.

"Beater, I kinda like that. What about you two."

"Sounds good."

"Works for me."

"Well then sounds like we're Beaters, just don't lump us in with the rest of those beat-testers." With that Kirito equips his Coat of Midnight while I make sure my shield can be seen while we're walking away. We're almost to the door when a voice reaches us.

"Wait." We turn back and Asuna has removed her hood and shown us her full face for the first time. Chestnut hair falls to her shoulders while Hazel eyes stare at us with warmth. "I'm coming with you!" Kirito and I are startled and make to shut that thought down only for Ruby to speak up.

"Okay." The two of us stare at her in shock.

"What do you mean okay, this is the kind of thing that gets put to a group vote!"

"Nope, I get the final say in anything that involves more females for the group." I want to argue I so want to but I've lived with eight women, I know when to give up. Kirito also seems smart enough to keep his mouth shut as he just pinches his nose again.

"You do know you can become powerful here on your own. You don't need to tag along with us, it'll probably just paint a target on your back." Asuna smirks at Kirito and bounces right next to him.

"I know, I'd just prefer to stick with you three. Plus, I'd feel pretty irresponsible if I left Ruby alone with you two brutes."

"HEY!" The two girls giggle at us as we walk up to the door and Kirito opens it. So, we managed to gain a new member to our little group. Asuna seems to a speed based player, nothing on Ruby yet but potential is there. I think we just formed the strongest party SAO will ever see.

Look out Aincrad, we're going to turn this place into our playground.

 **Alright so two things. 1) I'd like to hear anyones ideas for a) new scythe techniques and b) new shield techniques and 2) thank you to the various people who suggested I change Jaune's Japanese name. I have done so. Now I didn't explain it last time but Ruby is also a nickname that her family and friends, what few she has, use in real-life. Just to make sure there's no confusion.**

 **Yang's POV**

A month, a month of hell of my sister being trapped in that stupid game. What did Kayaba want? To simply play Kami? Well he doing so with my sister's life, her's and over so many others. I heard over two thousand have died so far, what if the next is Ruby!? I've already lost my moms, both step and biological, dad is in bad shape right now, and Uncle Karasu has been hitting the bars pretty often again. Although some visits to a bar are to help the owner's wife run the place as her husband is also trapped in SAO.

"Um hello." I look up from my chair in Ruby, Kiiro, and some kid named Kazuto's hospital room to find a black-haired guy in glasses looking down at me and Dad. "My name is Seijiro Kikuoka, I'm in charge of all thing SAO nowadays." Dad gets up and shakes the man's hand.

"Taiyang, that's my daughter Yang and the girl trapped in there is also mine." Kikuoka nods and takes a seat of his own.

"I'm aware. She's why I'm here. We've tried and failed to hack SAO. Kayaba simply made his defenses too strong for us to go in without risking everyone still alive in the game. However, we were able to connect to insert several data worms that are currently connected to a few servers that are tracking three specific people, all of the players in this room right know actually." I look over at the three people stuck in the beds and try to comprehend why Kayaba would care about them.

"You're telling us this why?" Kikuoka coughs into his hand and crosses his legs.

"Quite simply put the higher-ups want to allow people to use this to allow people to see what's happening. This is an early warning because I already have permission from the other two families at this point and she'll be seen anyway. Your daughter and these two boys travel and work together and have done so since the game was out. Apparently, they got together in the Beta and kept working in a group since then." I then think back to when Ruby was gushing about a boy she met during the Beta, I tried so hard to track down the guy that dared to try and make moves on my sister. Which one of these two is it. Dear Kami what if it's Kiiro?

"AND WHAT ABOUT RUBY'S PRIVACY!" That's right, what if some pervs use this to have a live feed of a cute girl.

"That's the second part of this that I managed to get my superiors to agree to. I want you all to look over the footage and you'll help with the editing process, believe me the other families had the same concern.

"DEAL!"

"Yang!?"

"Come on Dad this is the only chance we'll have to know how Ruby's doing. Plus, do you want some random person deciding how much of the footage is shown." Dad cracks in two seconds. I look over at my sister, she's one of the few people I love and if something happens to her Kiiro and Kazuto had better pray that they die as well because I swear they'll wish they did once I'm done with them.

 **So, thoughts? Opinons? Ideas?**


End file.
